Victor Boniface marked his first appearance of Bayer Leverkusen’s pre-season with two goals in five second-half minutes, as Die Werkself hammered fifth-tier hosts Sportfreunde Baumberg 7-0 in a friendly used to inaugurate the newly built MEGA-Stadion on Saturday.
New Leverkusen boss Carles Martínez set his side up in a 4-2-3-1 across two 35-minute halves, rotating heavily to hand every member of his squad minutes in the opener. New signing Afonso Moreira made an instant impression on his debut, scoring twice in the first half, while Christian Kofane also got on the scoresheet before the break. Leverkusen went into the interval already firmly in control, and the goals kept coming after it.
Boniface, introduced with a fresh set of faces for the second period, needed only five minutes to find the net twice and remind Martínez exactly what he is capable of. With his long-term future at the BayArena still unresolved following a difficult loan spell away from the club, the timing of the Nigerian’s double could hardly have been better. Consequently, the brace has added fresh intrigue to a pre-season in which his place in the squad was far from guaranteed.
The 25-year-old arrives at this pre-season looking to draw a line under a torrid campaign. Boniface spent last season on loan at Werder Bremen, where persistent knee trouble limited him to appearances without a single league goal before surgery ended his season prematurely. He nonetheless returned to Leverkusen ahead of schedule for pre-season training, becoming the first player in the squad to report back, a move widely read as a sign of intent to fight for his place under the club’s new manager.
Two proposed exits, to Al-Nassr and later to AC Milan, both collapsed over the past year amid concerns about his fitness. As a result, Saturday’s outing carried extra significance: it was Boniface’s first real chance to show Martínez, in person, what Leverkusen would be losing if they let him go.
Nigerian football followers, Boniface’s brace is a welcome sight after a torrid year in which the Super Eagles forward barely featured for club or country. Having previously lit up the Bundesliga with a haul of goals during Leverkusen’s title-winning campaign, his early flashes of sharpness will be closely monitored back home, where his omission from a settled Super Eagles forward line has been a recurring talking point. A firmly reinstated Boniface, fit and scoring again, would hand Nigeria’s technical crew a serious selection headache in a good way ahead of the country’s remaining World Cup qualifying and preparation fixtures.
Leverkusen continue their pre-season schedule with a trip to Kickers Offenbach on 25 July, followed by further friendlies against Carl Zeiss Jena, Sevilla and Newcastle United before the competitive campaign begins. Boniface will be hoping to build on Saturday’s showing and force his way into Martínez’s plans, with his club future likely to be decided on the back of exactly this kind of pre-season form.
